Demand for the Bible in China is now outstripping supply as Chinese people turn to Christianity at rate of around half a million per year.
 

Last year alone some four million Bibles were printed and distributed in the country, with the approval of the Chinese Government, but the demand is still growing.

Official figures show that 28.6 million people are Christians. Unofficial figures, which include the unregistered churches, stand at around 90 million.

The Bible was originally printed on the press that produced Chairman Mao’s Little Red Book, but because demand was so high a bigger press was needed. Bible Society helped the Chinese church leaders set up a new press in Nanjing – the Amity Printing Company. Some 70 million Bibles have been printed in China to date - 50 million for Chinese Christians.

UK-based Bible Society helps subsidise the cost of the Bibles, so that they are available for less than £2. This is particularly important for Christians in China’s rural heartland where 70 per cent of churchgoers are found. Here, half the population lives on less than $2 (£1.62) per day. So affording a Bible can be very difficult.

‘As more and more people are joining the Church they are asking for a Bible,’ says Bible Society’s China Partnership Co-ordinator Kua Wee Seng.  ‘Every year we have to raise funds for Bible subsidy. The reason is that in the rural areas where most Christians are found, they are living in relatively poor conditions. In order for them to have a copy of the Bible we have to provide paper so that a Bible is affordable for most of the Christians in China.

‘This is a time of opportunity in China,’ he adds. ‘Many of us feel that we mustn’t miss this opportunity or people will turn to something else, other than Christianity.’